March is Women’s History Month, and Samford’s Office of Student Success and Diversity is holding weekly events throughout the month to celebrate.
De’Janae Tookes, the assistant director for multicultural initiatives and events, spoke about the importance of celebrating Women’s History Month at Samford.
“The importance is making sure that students, faculty [and]staff truly understand the history of the contributions that wonderful women have made throughout history, not just throughout the U.S., but also here at Samford University,” said Tookes.
The first event of the month was Flower to Empower on March 1, during which the Office of Student Success and Diversity gave out flowers to women on campus. March 1 was the Friday before spring break, on a rainy day without many people out on campus.
“It felt like a ray of sunshine, but it was on a really gloomy day, because one, it was unexpected, […] you could tell that it really made their day, it was like a reset,” Tookes said. “It was really nice to know that we started off that break with a way of saying ‘hey we recognize you and celebrate you’.”
The next event, which will be on March 20, is a self-defense workshop on safety for women, as well as warning about signs of human trafficking.
The final event, March 26, is called Empower Her, and will be a virtual session highlighting successful female Samford alumni.
Tookes, who helped organize the event, talked about the willingness and positive feedback she received when reaching out to alums.
“You can tell that the women that I reached out to wanted to give back and they wanted to share their story and they wanted to make sure that other women or current students heard their story,” she said. “[It] should be inspiring when it comes to women that are currently here that are students and there is someone that is willing to come back, hold their hand and share their story, to let them know that they’re not alone in their experience.”
Tookes discussed the role Samford has played in supporting female member’s of the campus community.
“I do think that Samford supports women when it comes to having elevated positions and titles,” she said. “It’s amazing to see some women in executive leadership positions,” said Tookes.
Jada Hunter, a senior law politics and society major, serves as the Samford League of Women Voters President. This club aims to help educate the Samford community about voting. Hunter echoed Tookes in considering ways that Samford supports women across campus.
“I think Samford does a really good job of catering to our population which is majority female, especially by having so many women professors,” she said.
Hunter said she would like to see a change in the spiritual life at Samford.
“I do feel like we do have a little bit of an issue with regard to spiritual life,” she said. “I think it would be really beneficial for spiritual life to be more active in promoting women-led spiritual events. I know that we have a society that’s [based] out of Beeson Divinity School that’s women-led worship, but I wish we could bring something like that to convo as well.”
Hunter emphasized the importance of celebrating women’s history month.
“Celebrating women’s history month is important because you’re highlighting a group of people who have historically been marginalized,” she said. “We are celebrating a group who has risen above oppression, whether by the government, by societal expectations… At Samford, that’s important too because we weren’t always a co-ed university; I think it’s important to recognize that our history is made better by the women at Samford.”
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